Art Appreciation

We would like to thank Mrs. Butler for coming in to plan and conduct a spectacular Art Appreciation lesson last week! In addition, we thank Mrs. Georg for coming in to assist.

 The students had fun learning about different types of architectural structures that are all around downtown Chicago.   Afterwards, the students were given a bag of various materials and were asked to create a specific structure out of the supplies given to them.  Enjoy the pictures from our event.

Information Regarding Halloween Festivities

We are planning our annual Halloween extravaganza for the afternoon of Friday, October 31st. Students will be in costume (in the afternoon) to celebrate the special day! Teachers and parents are planning a fun afternoon of games and activities! Although most children take part in the costume parade and parties, their participation is completely voluntary. As you are planning your child’s costume, please remember we are a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school. Students remaining in school during lunch should plan on costumes with limited make-up accessories. We are requesting your cooperation in selecting school-appropriate costumes that avoid violence, sharp objects, weapons, unnecessary gore, etc. At the discretion of the principal, students with inappropriate costumes will not be able to participate in the parade. If you are unsure of the appropriateness of your child’s costume, please contact the office.

The costume parade will start at 1:45 PM (please note lunch changes below for Halloween). Weather permitting; the parade will begin outside on the sidewalk. Students in grades 1st and 2nd will exit the building using the Primary Doors and line up on the sidewalk along Dwyer Street. Students in kindergarten and 3rd grade will exit the building using the Main Doors and line up on the sidewalk in front of school. Students in grade 4th through 5th will exit the Grove Street door and line up on the sidewalk along Grove Street west of Dwyer Street. The office team will lead the parade and students will parade in the following order: Kindergarten, 3rd , 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th grades.

The parade will walk north on the west side of Dwyer Street to Sigwalt, and then return to Westgate walking south on the east side of Dwyer Street. Parents are welcome to line the parade route outside along Dwyer Street. (Students will exit the Primary Door, Main Door, and Grove Street Door. The entire school will meet on the southwest corner of Grove Street and Dwyer Street.) The parade will be cancelled due to rain or the route will be reduced due to extreme cold weather. A SchoolMessenger will be sent out to Westgate families at 12:00PM announcing either the cancellation of the parade or the reduction of the parade route.

Traditionally, many students go home for lunch on Halloween to change into a costume. However, in recent years, more children remain at school for recess and lunch. To ensure all children will be able to go home and return for the Halloween parade at the same time, the lunch time for ALL grades will be from 12:30 -1:30PM as follows:

Grades 1-5: Lunch 12:30-1:00/ Recess 1:00-1:30PM

If your child is in grades 1-5, then please complete the portion on the next page and return it to your child’s teacher by Friday, October 24th.

Students leaving the school for lunch will use the following exits: Main Door (Door #1), Primary Door (Door #2), and 5th Grade Door (Door #16.) The Cab Doors (adjacent to the North Parking Lot, Door #13 ) will not be used for lunch dismissal.

Remember: Students leaving for lunch should not return to school prior to 1:30PM. Returning students should line up at the Main Entrance (Door #1.) There will be no supervision prior to 1:25PM. Students may not enter the building until 1:30PM

Children who stay at school for lunch will have the opportunity to change into their costumes during the lunch/recess hour. There will be limited adult assistance for costume preparations and it is advisable to keep the costume simple.

Special Note For Kindergartens…. All kindergarten students should come to school dressed in their costumes. AM classes will have their parties during their class time and will parade outside (weather permitting) around the Circle Drive during the morning class time. In the event of rain or inclement weather, the AM parade will be canceled. There will be no indoor parade accessible to parents. THE AM KINDERGARTEN PARADE CANCELLATION NOTICE WILL BE MADE BY 9:00AM THROUGH SCHOOLMESSENGER AND EXTERIOR PA SYSTEM. The PM Kindergarten children will join the all-school parade in the afternoon. The AM Kindergarten children are invited back at 1:45 PM to join in the all-school parade if they so desire. All AM Kindergarten children participating in the afternoon parade need to be accompanied by an adult. Please refer to homeroom Kindergarten letters for more information regarding Halloween festivities.

Global Read Aloud

Last week the students started to learn what it truly means to be global.   Today,  we read an online story called What Does It Mean To Be Global? by Rana DiOrio. Through reading the book we learned that being global is........

• .....being curious about other parts of the world.
• .....recognizing that your language is just one of thousands spoken on our Earth.
• .....listening to all different kinds of music.
• .....traveling to places near and far and appreciating how special they are.  
• .....trying all types of food.
• .....experiencing other traditions.  
• .....learning about other religions.
• .....respecting that others may have different values than you do.
• ....celebrating diversity in people.
• .....understanding how your actions affect another person's experience.
• .....living respectfully and peacefully with one another.
• .....opening your mind to new possibilities.
• .....being a citizen of the world.

Throughout the school year we will continue to integrate our curriculum with being global.  Our first step involves all of the third grade classes participating in the "Global Read Aloud Program" that runs from October 6th - November 14th.   Together, all of us will be reading aloud a book called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo to the students.   Each class then partners up with another third grade class across the nation that is also participating in the Global Read Aloud.  Together, the partnering classes plan various activities and literature discussions throughout the read aloud experience.

Our Global Read Aloud partner is Mrs. Hanson's Third Grade Class in Ottawa, Canada.  Last Friday, our class was able to meet with them via Skype.   The students had the opportunity to ask questions about each other's classrooms and learn more about our cultures.   Over the next month, we will continue to read aloud Edward Tulane to each of our classes.  Our class will also hook up with Mrs. Hanson's class via Edmodo to answer literature response questions.  

Please be sure to  have your student log into their Edmodo accounts at home to update you on our classroom experiences with our partnering class!   You can also learn more about Global Read Aloud through visiting this webpage:  http://www.globalreadaloud.com/p/faq.html

We would thank Mrs. Corwin, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Kuhn, and Mrs. Stahr for coming in this week to  conduct Reader's Theater groups.   The students were able to read scripts focusing on the history of Chicago.   

Edmodo Accounts

Yesterday, your child learned how to use a new online website called "Edmodo".  Throughout research time during Social Studies, the students log into an Edmodo account.    Once on the page, an assignment is posted for them to complete with their group to learn more about a topic.   (Usually the assignments involve reading a webpage, watching a short movie, or watching a slideshow about the subject they are researching that day).   Afterwards, the student groups post a few sentences in Edmodo about what they have read. Together as a whole group, we discuss our findings.     

Feel free to view their postings by going to:   www.Edmodo.com.    Once on the site, your child can log into their account to show you their postings!  All of your child's usernames and passwords for their online accounts have been stapled to the inside pocket of their Take Home folders.   

It's Math Workshop Time!

Many of your students may have come home this week discussing how math in our class is now structured a little bit differently in our room.   I'm now incorporating Unit 2 of Everyday Math with a new model called "Math Workshop".   Some of you may have heard the term "Guided Math".   It is structured very similarly to the concept of Guided Reading that I utilize during literacy time.

Before a unit starts, your student is given a pre-test over the upcoming unit to determine concepts that your child already has mastered and ones that I need to reinforce with them.   Based off of the pre-test, I place your child in an appropriate guided math group with similar students working at their same ability level.   

The beginning of our math time starts off with a whole group "mini-lesson" that focuses on the math concepts for the day.   Afterwards, your student is placed with their guided math groups for more in-depth practice of the whole group skills.    Depending upon the group your child has been placed in, some students work on reinforcement skills if I felt they could use more practice in an area, while others work on enrichment skills if I believe that they could use an additional challenge in a particular area.

The groups rotate through stations utilizing the following stations:
1.  Meet With Teacher: Students work on journal pages with teacher involving reinforcement or enrichment skills.
2.  Math Fact Practice/ Math Boxes: Students work with a partner to practice their math facts or a review of what we've covered by working on individual Math Boxes.
3.  Supplemental Activity or Technology: Students are given group reinforcement or enrichment supplemental activities, Khanacademy.org, or other online game focusing on the topic at hand.

After each station, students are asked to reflect upon their time at each station.  Each day I look at their reflections and progress with their journal, Khan Academy, and/or supplemental activity to determine additional reinforcement or enrichment activities for the next session.   

Homework will still remain the same with the students having a Homelink page to complete.   If your student missed 5 or less on their pretest, they are given challenge Homelinks that they can use in lieu of their regular Homelink pages.       

From a teacher standpoint, this new model allows me to work more individually with students that are struggling with a particular concept.  While at the same time, it also provides more of a challenge for students that need enrichment activities in a particular area.   Hopefully this success will continue and we can utilize this model with upcoming units throughout the rest of the year!  :)

September Classroom Events

Here's a snapshot of our classroom events:

Literacy:

Our class has really been taking off with our CAFE Literacy Program that focuses on important  reading strategies that we should  be implementing everyday in our reading.  Together, our class has been reading various stories where we analyze how to find the story structure of a book that involves discussing the genre, characters, plot, setting, problem, and solution of a book.  Additionally, through our discussions and independent reading assignments, the students have been working on the reading strategies of summarizing the important events in a story and attempting to find the main idea and details of a story.  Moreover, we have been talking about the importance of pausing in our reading every once and a while to check for understanding of what we have read and remembering to back up and reread a passage when we do not comprehend what it says.

Throughout the past two weeks.  I've also been individually assessing your child in the areas of fluency and comprehension. Guided Reading groups will start next week.  Over the past few weeks,  students have been utilizing this testing time working on various reading strategies and Weekly 5 routines. 

Through the reading benchmarking assessments, I will be able to place your child in a guided reading group and provide them with appropriate books that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Guided reading time involves assigning students chapters or pages to read independently, having them answer comprehension questions about their book, and meeting with their group for a novel group discussion. Throughout the year, your child may be moved to a different guided reading group depending on their needs. If your child has a difficult time finishing their guided reading assignment during the schedule 60 minute guided reading period, they will be asked to finish it that night for homework.

Writing:

Our class is really starting to get used to the format and routines our new WEX Writing Program. Over the past couple of weeks we have been learning about the writing concept of focus. Throughout our lessons, the students have been learning that when we focus on one moment, setting, sound, or object in our writing, it results in more interesting words, unique perspectives, and surprising fun-to-read details.

Additionally, the students have also been working hard making sure that they are "showing details" in their writing. Showing is the skill of using precise observations, descriptive details, and expressive language to demonstrate emotion, create images, and present evidence within our writing. The students have been learning the difference between telling the reader what is happening in their writing versus "showing" the reader. For example, instead of telling the reader "I was cold", the students have learned that they can better show how the person is feeling by saying, "I was shivering outside on my front porch as I zipped up my coat". Thus, we are learning how to write details in our work that are more precise and authentic to the reader.

Spelling:

A big thanks goes out to all of the parents that are working with their student on spelling each evening this week with our "Words Their Way" Program!   Please continue to make sure that they are sorting their words correctly into their various spelling categories. The goal of our spelling program is for the students to learn and retain the spelling rules and word patterns for future use in their writing and not to just memorize the words for the test and forget them by the next week.   The nightly spelling sorts and activities will help your student to reach this goal.  Please continue to make sure that your child completes at least three of the assigned homework activities and also have a parent signature on the form.  Each weekly homework packet is worth 5 points.  

Grammar:

Over the past several weeks, the students have been working on determining if a sentence is considered complete and when they should use a period or an exclamation mark in their sentences. We also have been discussing how in order for a sentence to be considered a complete sentence, it must always contain a subject. Throughout literacy time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Feel free to on these links to view and play the web site games at home: Sentence Clubhouse, Penguins on Ice, What's the Subject?, and Rags to Riches.

Math:

The students will be finishing up with Unit 1 on Monday that reviewed some of the concepts that they learned already in 2nd grade. Our lessons  involved analyzing data and plotting it into various kinds of graphs, finding equivalent names for a given number, discussing the concept of chance, learning how to utilize our new calculators, and counting money. 

Our Unit 1 Test will be on Wednesday next week.   On Tuesday, we will spend time reviewing the unit and a review sheet will go home that night for practice.  

Social Studies:

The class has been having a fun time learning all about Chicago.   Together, we have been discussing about the meaning of the parts of the Chicago flag and learned about the first settlers that moved into the Chicago area.   In addition, the students have been divided into research groups to learn more about events that happened in Chicago's history involving Fort Dearborn, the Chicago River, the Chicago Fire, the Century of Progress, and the Chicago World's Fair.   

Our students also continue to go the the LMC twice a week to work on enrichment activities with Mrs. Cerniglia and Mrs. Kleist.   The activities have involved map skills and landforms.  We're excited to go on our Wendella Boat ride field trip that has been scheduled for next Friday, September 26th.   More information about the trip will be sent home to you next week.  

Have a wonderful weekend with your families!